In this cute Coke commercial, animated Yao and LeBron pull out cartoony symbols of the US and China.

US vs Spain: Q1: 38-31, Q2: 69-61, Q3: 91-82, Q4: 118-107

US wins!

United States defeated Australia 92-65 to win its fourth Olympic gold medal. Can US Men beat Spain tomorrow? We shall see.

Via Beijing 2008

China defeated Germany 59-55 to enter the quaterfinal, leaving Germany to battle the United States for a chance to win an Olympic medal.

Via Beijing 2008

China’s national men’s basketball team is powered up to get a better standing in the Beijing Olympics than previous Olympic Games. Yao Ming is aiming for a sixth position while the general public hopes the basketball team can create miracles in the Games.

Tickets of Olympic basketball matches are the most wanted on the Internet besides tickets of the opening and closing ceremonies and finals of the men’s 110 meters hurdles, which is expected to feature defending gold medallist and local favorite Liu Xiang.

Price of the tickets of the men’s basketball final match has vaulted to over 10 times of the original price.

Basketball has arguably become the most popular sport in China as soccer was haunted by corruptions, match-fixings and misbehaviors of footballers on and off the pitch.

Via Xinhua

Yao Ming (濮氭槑) is back in action after a foot surgery. It’s good that we can see him representing China basketball team in the face-off against the USA team on 10th August in the Olympics.

Via FanNation

The Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium or Wukesong Indoor Stadium is ready to host qualifying matches and finals of the Beijing basketball event in this coming August Beijing Olympics. A high-definition LED display system was imported to meet NBA standards and in turn, let spectators enjoy NBA-level basketball matches.

On the outside, the building looks like a giant gold bar. But when visitors approach the venue, they can see individual yellow-colored columns that are wavy. It gives people the feeling of movement and optimism.

The gym covers an area of 63,000 square meters and can accommodate 18,000 spectators. A solar energy and rainfall collection recycling systems are used in this gym. Construction on the gym took two years and ten months to finish.

I’m sure Yao Ming would be impressed.

Via China Daily

This series of Nike “Anytime” (闅忔椂) commercials are all related to the Beijing Olympics. In the advertisements, you are encouraged to do any sports such as fencing, weightlifting, marathon running, discus throwing, basketball, 100m sprinting and judo anytime, even in a classroom or at the school canteen. In a sense of “Just Do It - Anytime”.

I love the judo part, reminds me of my dating history. Duh.

China local and foreign international brands are using the Beijing Olympics to increase profiles and getting their every sponsorship dollar worth. Only a handful of athletes are earning top dollars from endorsements and sponsorships. They are Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian (basketball), Guo Jingjing (diving), Liu Xiang (Track & Field, Athletics) and Wang Nan (Table Tennis), just to name a few.

The emergence of top athletes as spokespeople is happening as domestic brands are developing national or even global profiles and international brands are looking for ways to relate to Chinese customers.

So do they get unlimited supply of Coke?

Via BusinessWeek